In All But
by firedraygon
Summary: Luffy lived on Mt. Corbo for 10 years before he set sail to become the next Pirate King. This is a collection of his -and Ace's and Sabo's- adventures during that time! Round four: Sabo's first belle.
1. Planning and Pitfalls

AN: I absolutely adore the Luffy-Ace-Sabo backstory, so here's my contribution. This'll be a collection of ficlets set during the time Luffy lives on Mt. Corbo.

Disclaimer: I do not own these brilliant characters.

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**In All But**

**_Planning and Pitfalls_

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**

Three boys huddled together, heads close and whispering. The one with the large top hat and goggles scratched some letters and arrows into the dirt with a stick.

"Okay, so Luffy, you run at the old man head on," he traced the straight arrow from 'L' to 'G' deeper into the dirt, "Use your pistol move –"

"Right, he does it all the time, so Gramps won't be suspicious at all."

"Yeah! …_Hey_!"

"—_Use your pistol move_, and lead him over to the edge of the clearing, where that big tree is."

Luffy puffed out his chest and thumped it once. "You can count on me."

Next, Sabo tapped the stick onto the 'A'.

"Ace, you run around them and attack from the other side. Keep his attention." Ace nodded, and Sabo moved to the 'S' written on a doodle of a tree. "Me, I'll climb up and jump down when I see a good opening, and then…"

Luffy was no longer listening, but instead was winding up his shoulder and glaring down Garp. Sabo pinched Luffy's cheek and pulled him back into the huddle.

"Focus! The plan is to distract the target into stepping here," Sabo gouged a big 'X' on the ground, marking where they'd dug out a hole and filled it with loose soil and water. They'd also sprinkled some leaves overtop as extra camouflage. "Got it?"

"Yeah, haha! Gramps is going down! _Ow_!"

Sabo rolled his eyes as Luffy rubbed the back of his head, under the straw hat.

"…On the count of three."

"One…" Luffy flexed and stretched his arm.

"Two…" Ace crouched in the sprinter position.

"Three!"

(In the end, Luffy fell into their quicksand trap and needed rescuing.

"BwahahaHA, you brats are a hundred years too early to challenge a marine like me!")


	2. Eating and Being Eaten

**Eating and Being Eaten

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**

"I'm TELLing you guys, I ate these things all the time!" Luffy said, twirling a giant, skewered caterpillar over the fire. It sizzled. "When I was five, Gramps left me for a month in the jungle and I had ten or more a day!"

Sabo jabbed at his own stick and made a face when he poked a hole through the insect's lightly charcoaled outer layer and hot goo clung to his finger as he pulled away. "This is _nasty_! We should just catch that gator I saw over by the river – then we'd have enough for supper later, too."

"Un, I love gator," Luffy agreed, salivating just thinking of the chewy meat. "We can catch it after. I want you guys to try this though!"

"Oi, don't think you can trick us, squirt. Just 'cuz we got you to eat those spotty mushrooms last week!" Ace declared, shaking his grub at Luffy.

"Dadan made me drink two barrels of water to pee that all out!"

"Don't be such a baby."

"Oh yeah? Who's the baby now, can't even eat a little bug?" crowed Luffy, dancing up on his feet, still passing his afternoon bite through the flames.

"_Who_'re you calling a baby!"

"Ace is a baby, Ace is a – whoah!" Luffy dodged the swipe, but accidentally stepped into the fire. "Missed me! Haha-hothothotHOT!" He hopped/ran out of the clearing.

Ace watched Luffy go, shaking his head, fondly irritated.

"Hey, this actually isn't too bad," Sabo said around his finger. He licked the rest of the goo off and smacked his lips. "Tastes a little like that new mystery meat jam Dogura makes sometimes."

Ace pulled off one of the many stubby legs on his own skewer and popped the jelly end in his mouth. He paused thoughtfully, "Yeah, not bad. Kinda like Dogura's secret-special stew."

The two older boys sat next to the fire and leisurely finished their crispy-on-the-outside, gooey-on-the-inside snacks.

"Hmm, where'd Luffy go?" Sabo asked, pointing his chin at the uneaten caterpillar.

"Dunno, probably to the river?"

"…"

"…"

Sabo and Ace threw down their sticks and dashed off to save their little brother.

(Fortunately, Luffy had only been swallowed whole this time. A few judicious kicks and punches had the youngest of the trio out in a jiffy.)

(Also, Dogura's secret ingredient to all his recipes was something Luffy introduced him to when he caught the boy trying to steal food from the kitchens. He'd had Luffy swear, on pain of no more meat _ever_, never to let anyone else - especially Dadan - find out.)


	3. Mistakes and Learning

**Mistakes and Learning**

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"What the hell were you thinking, little brat? Taking on that full grown tiger without backup!"

"I know."

"You're lucky the both of you made it out alive."

"_I know._"

As Dadan left the room, Ace curled in on himself and made a pledge, gripping his bandaged arms until red seeped through and trickled down to his elbows.

Never again.


	4. Minding Manners

**Minding Manners**

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**

"Ahaha! Are you boys serious!" Makino covered her laugh as the scruffy youngsters in front of her competed to bow lower and lower until Luffy banged his head on his own knees. He lost his balance and tilted over until he almost toppled onto Ace, who straightened in time and shoved Luffy back the other way, to the floor.

"Ahem," Sabo interrupted. His top-hat was off and held with both hands in front of him, and his face was suspiciously cleaner than it was just a minute ago. He cleared his throat before announcing loudly, "My name is Sabo. May I please inquire as to what yours is, Miss?"

Luffy and Ace stopped wrestling and gaped at the other boy. Makino turned to Sabo and smiled brightly. "My, how polite! Nice to meet you, Sabo. You can call me Makino."

"It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Makino-san." Sabo bowed gracefully with one arm behind his back and his hat stretched out to his side.

"No need to be so formal, Sabo! We're all friends here, right?"

Sabo grinned and swiped his index finger across the tip of his nose. Just as he opened his mouth to speak –

"AHAHAHAHA!" Luffy pounded his fist on the ground.

"SABO, you lame-ass, stop sucking up!" Ace clarified.

Sabo flushed angrily and scowled. "Yeah? What about '_Whom are you_?'"

"S'totally different."

"Now, now, play nice, otherwise I won't give you your presents."

The bickering grew silent and Luffy hopped up immediately, eyes shining. "Is it meat?"

"Haha, no! It's something better."

"No way, nothing's better'n meat."

Makino smiled fondly at Luffy, missing his easygoingness. She reached behind her and pulled a small suitcase onto her lap. "I know when I was your age, all my boy friends were constantly outgrowing their things, so I thought…" She opened the case and pulled out a pile of folded clothes. "Tada!"

Luffy pouted. "I knew it, s'not better."

Ace reached for a blue T-shirt and "Ow!" Sabo retracted his elbow and stood straight, grinning. "Thank you, Makino-san! Your thoughtfulness is – ooph!" Ace tackled him.

Meanwhile, Luffy was already riffling through the pile. "Oooh, this shirt has a gator on it, coooool!"

Makino just giggled. Boys will be boys.


End file.
